Assessing the Impact of Technology on the Regulatory Process
Gannod, Gerald; Koehnemann, Harry; Litchfield, Larry
(Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Arizona State University, Tempe, Az, City of Phoenix, Az)
Regulatory agencies face many challenges. The volume of permit requests is increasing while those requesting permits expect a quicker response time to their submissions. Construction projects are reducing their timelines and require incremental, continuous permit review processes. To help resolve these problems, regulatory agencies are looking to technology solutions to help increase their performance by automating and managing portions of the permitting process. By deploying technology solutions, agencies hope to provide permitting customers better service in a more timely manner as well as enable the staff to efficiently process increasing volumes of requests. In this paper, we outline a continuous permitting process and survey some technology investments that have been implemented by local municipal government agencies to improve current permitting processes. This analysis uses data collected over the past ten years including information on budgets, staff, and permitting performance and analyzes the impact of IT investments on observed productivity and performance gains. We conclude the paper with recommendations for other regulatory agencies looking to make technology investments